Seoul , South Korea -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The unflinching account from a defector revealed how he picked corn kernels out of cow manure to eat as he competed with his family for food at one of North Korea 's notorious prison camps .

He was also forced to watch his mother 's hanging and his brother 's execution . He was born in a `` total control zone '' where prison authorities wield complete power , where guards beat children to death with no hesitation .

A memoir detailing Shin Dong-hyuk 's life , `` Escape from Camp 14 '' hit the bookshelves in South Korea this month . The original English version published in March last year .

Shin , 30 , is the only man known to have been born and to escape from a North Korean prison known as Camp 14 .

His account put a human face on the abuses in North Korean prison camps , a brutal system which has survived twice as long as Stalin 's Soviet gulags and much longer than the Nazi concentration camps .

`` The existence of prison camps in the North should be known to the people around the world , '' Shin said . `` There are some people born and raised as an animal in North Korea . I have to explain that to everyone . ''

Defectors describe horror , heartbreak in North Korea 's labor camps

The hope in writing the book was to raise awareness about conditions inside North Korea , said Blaine Harden , the author of `` Escape from Camp 14 : One Man 's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West . ''

Its impact was unanticipated , said Harden , when the pair spoke at the Asan Institute last week in Seoul .

In March , the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva agreed to examine what it called `` grave , widespread and systematic '' violations of human rights in North Korea , including the use of prison camps . While the book was not the sole reason , U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay met with Shin and another North Korean prison camp survivor in December

The members of the commission were appointed this week . The three members will look into issues including disappearances , abductions , the control of food and use of torture in the isolated nation . The commission will give an update on its findings in September followed by a final report by March .

North Korea has denied human right abuses , saying that its citizens are `` happy with pride and honor '' and that the nation has `` one of the best systems for promotion and protection of human rights in the world . ''

The book 's impact

`` Escape from Camp 14 '' has been translated into 24 languages and there are plans to adopt the book into a film .

Shin has bared the scars from his 23 years in captivity North Korea -- such as burn marks on his back and his missing finger tip -- in several interviews with journalists . His story has been carried by media outlets worldwide .

`` I 'm grateful for people who are paying attention to the North Korean human rights situation , '' Shin said . `` It seems like they 're more interested in my personal situation . I do not want that . ''

Shin , a slim man with wide plastic-rimmed glasses , appeared accustomed to the various questions from the audience members and journalists .

`` I think the most challenging thing still today is the past heartbroken story should be explained over and over again , '' Shin said . `` And personally , I want to escape my past . I physically escaped North Korea , but still my mind , my memories live there .

`` But I know there is serious cause behind my doing this kind of these sessions and explaining these things . ''

He spoke of a 2008 visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington , D.C. where he saw a photograph of the Auschwitz prison camp in 1944 . The single photo resonated with him as `` an outcry from the prison camp '' that pressed the world for help .

The world `` did n't pay attention to this single photograph . Six million people had to suffer . It was shocking to me , '' he said . It inspired him to speak about the North Korean camps .

The evidence of the North Korean prisons are overwhelming as more than 60 people have given detailed , consistent accounts , Harden said .

`` Shin 's story , these heartbreaking narratives , are a kind of abuse that Europe said , ` Never again , ' to . Yet , it 's going on this morning , not 250 miles from where we sit , '' Harden said from the auditorium in Seoul .

Shin 's testimony has brought new insights into the secretive camps , he added .

For example , the concept of `` reward marriages '' was unknown until Shin told his story . These are the rewards dispensed by prison guards , who allow a male and female prisoner to have sex . Shin was a product of a reward marriage in the prison camp .

The reward marriage works as an incentive for prisoners , Shin said .

Shin 's testimony has encouraged the world to `` grapple with the suffering , '' rather than just lampoon North Korea as a punchline , Harden said .

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Shin Dong-hyuk 's `` Escape from Camp 14 '' released in Korean this month

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Shin is only man known to have been born and escape from a North Korean prison

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Awareness raised on North Korean human rights , says author